New Pattern - Nadi Coat

Introducing the Nadi Coat!

This beauty is knit from the bottom up in one piece to the armholes. The back and fronts are divided and knit separately to the shoulders. The front and back neck stitches continue to be worked into a hood, which is shaped at the top using short rows.

I really love this way of shaping hoods—I'll never shape a hood any other way, ever again.

The center stitches are worked in short rows while decreasing the outer stitches. It provides for a nice roomey hood with the perfect shape!

The sleeves are knit flat, and sewn into the armholes. There's a cute li'l cable detail at the top of the cap that matches the one at the center back—just smaller.

The front has a single row of toggle buttons at the chest, and is open at the bottom. The button band is knit at the same time as the body, so there is no need to pick up any stitches. The wooden toggle buttons that I used are from JHB.

Read more about Nadi
 

The sweater is knit using 9 (10, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14) hanks of Cheyenne, by Mountain Meadow Wools. To read more about this fantastic, eco-friendly yarn, check out the review!

Auger

Auger is the newest design published by O-Wool. It's knit in their Legacy Bulky yarn, which is 100% organic wool, and uses low impact dyes. This cardi is super cozy, with some pockets to keep the hands warm and a pretty vine growing out of each.

Pattern available for $6.00 on Ravelry, from Tunney Wool Co. (aka O-Wool)

FINISHED SIZE
29¾ (33½, 37, 40¾, 44½, 48¼)” bust circumference, buttoned with 1¾” overlapped button band. Garment shown measures 33½”.

YARN O-WOOL LEGACY BULKY (100% certified organic merino; 106 yds/9 7m 100g/ 3.5 oz); 9 (10, 11, 12, 13, 14) skeins, shown in 4199 Rutabaga.

GAUGE 13 sts and 20 rows = 4” in Moss St; 15 sts in Vine Panel = 3½”. Take time to save time, check your gauge

NEEDLES Size US 10 (6 mm): 32” circular and double-pointed (dpn). Adjust needle size if necessary to obtain the correct gauge.

NOTIONS Cable needle, stitch holders or waste yarn, stitch markers, six 1” buttons, tapestry needle.

NOTE Circular needle is used to accommodate large number of sts; work back and forth in rows unless otherwise specified.

Purna

Sweater-weather is finally here! Introducing Purna.
One day last winter, while sitting in my cold living room, I drempt up this cozy every-day cardigan. It's exactly what I wanted to wear that day. It's perfect to throw on over practically anything! I can't wait to get it back from the photographer so I can start wearing it on these chilly Maine mornings.

The body of this everyday cardi is knit in one piece, from the bottom up. At the armholes the back and fronts are divided and worked separately to the shoulders where they are joined with a three needle bind off. The sleeve stitches are picked up around the armhole edge, short rows are worked to shape the sleeve cap, then the sleeve is worked in the round to the cuff.

No seaming is required to make this piece.

Finished Measurements:
33 (36, 39, 42, 45, 48, 51)"
84 (91.5, 99, 106.5, 114.5, 122, 129.5) cm

Yarn Requirements:
Shown in Plymouth's Homestead yarn
100% Peruvian wool
100 gram hank = approx 191 yards
5 (5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8) hanks in color 101 Light Grey Heather, or approx 900 (970, 1050, 1130, 1230, 1300, 1390) yards in a comparable earth-friendly yarn.

Knitting Needles:
One 32" circular and one set of double pointed needles size US 9 (5.5 mm).
Or size to obtain gauge.

Gauge: 16 sts and 23 rows = 4" in St st. Take time to save time, check your gauge.

Sneak Peek - Fall 2012

Some sneak peek photos to get you excited about this coming fall!

New designs from Quince & Co.

Quince & Co. recently published two of my designs—Lydia in Sparrow and the Budding Forest Cowl in Lark—both fantastic, eco-friendly yarns. Patterns are available as PDF downloads from the Quince & Co website.

Fiber College 2012

I spent the last few days at Fiber College in Searsport, Maine. What an amazing time!
Here are some pictures of the Searsport Shores Ocean Campground, where Fiber College is held.

I stayed in their honey bee bunk house. The first night there was one other person with me, who wasn't talkative. The second night I chatted with Donna and Jen - both bright beautiful souls who have a lot to share! The whole experience was amazing. I'm planning on spending longer there next year.

There are beautiful gardens, and this really awesome fence.

 A couple friendly angora goats.

 

  

The beautiful beach, where I really enjoyed doing some yoga and
listening to the waves on Friday morning. 

  

As part of Fiber College, I took a natural dying class with Jackie Ottino Graf (who's also the dye-queen at Swans Island Yarns). I'm feeling so inspired to start a dye garden and play with dying things naturally. It was a very inspiring class! 

 Jackie, sharing her knowledge with the class.

 Yarn and fiber soaked overnight in potassium alum sulfate mordant with some cream of tartar.

 

A variety of plants and extracts that can be used for dying, including goldenrod, brazilwood, dyers chamomile, onion skins, madder, logwood, cochineal, pomegranate, and a bunch more.

 

 Goldenrod

 

 

Dyer's chamomile

 

  

Yellow medley of goldenrod, dyer's chamomile and weld.

Result of the yellow plant medley.

Dried cochineal beetles. This won't be something I use, as I don't like the idea of killing the beetles to make a red dye, but it was in the class, and seeing the red it created was pretty impressive.

White yarn dipped into cochineal. 

 Cochineal yarn dripped orange into the white basin. We all found that a bit amusing.

 Yellow medley yarn dipped into the cochineal to create a variegated colorway.

 

We forgot to put the ring on this one.

Pomegranate (back); logwood purple (front)

 

Logwood purple results on fiber.

 Yellow medley, cochineal, longwood purple and pomegranate.

Pomegranate; variegated yellow medley and cochineal; yellow medley.

 

 Pomegranate in the iron after-dip.

 Pomegranate with an iron after-dip makes a sage green… who'd-a-thunk-it?

 Yellow medley fiber (back) dipped into the pomegranate/iron blend (front).

madder root

 

Yellow medley fiber dipped into the madder. LOVE this color!

A day's work.

 Notes.

 Friday I checked out the vendors. Some of them brought animals with them! There were sheep and llamas. That li'l llama wasn't too sure what to think of me taking pictures.

I also took a hula hooping class with Jen Appleby on Friday afternoon. No pictures of that though… I was too busy spinning a hoop around to pick up a camera. TONS of fun!

 The toys I returned home with!

 Lots of dye, yarn and fiber for me to play with!

roving from Ontheround and Dyemama.

 Natural dye extracts from Jackie, and some Dye For Me yarn that I got a great deal on from the Heavenly Socks yarn store in Belfast. They had ordered it for another customer, but she ended up not wanting it. Lucky me!

Elemental Affects Natural Shetland Fingering (also purchased from Heavenly Socks).

 A Wrinkle in Thyme yarns. This farm is about a half hour from my house!
I'll be visiting them, for sure!

 

Peace Fleece (purchased from Heavenly Socks)

Hope Spinnery

Fiber College is still going on - through Sunday September 9th. If you're in the Searsport, Maine area, I highly recommend checking them out! If you miss this one, there's always planning for next year. I know I will be! See you there?